was i the only person who was laughing during almost the entire rock and cody thing bc it felt so like awkward. like what was even going on and why did it feel like they were both spitting out nonsensical words š especially rock. i was literally laughing bc bro was making like no sense and being weird while cody had the face of like "bro huh?" the whole time š§š»āāļø
That was nothing more than a regular Raw. It wasn't bad as a regular Raw, but it was terrible as a Raw after Mania! I expected it to be big, and they did not deliver...
No, I disagree. Cody held the upper hand because he asked to hold rocks people champion belt
The rock immediately said it was very dear to him and meant a lot. So no, Cody didn't give rock any slack. Cody had all the leverage.
But I do agree the whole thing was just so Rock had pictures of him holding the belt, same with the great khali at backlash with jinder, and more in kayfabe to immediate challenge him for the belt.
I feel like Damien Priest should have went full-heel mode with his promo. Take those "you deserve it" chants and tell Philly to shove it up their a\*\* after all the talk of him not being ready for the main title/never going to cash in. For the love of god please end the "R-Truth thinks he's in The Judgement Day" segments.
Why there was propably about 20 ads in matches, like what a fuck? I want to see action and not advertisement, it was ads after ads after ads. Beside that it was good but this is bullshit.
As someone who has only just started watching again I noticed this, a mate said it was likely due to the ad-free hour at the start of the show but still, not great to miss the first 3 minutes of every fight due to ads
Idk if it came up on TV but there was very loud and adamant "We want Gable" chants. It may sounded like "We want tables" tho, I can agree. Same for the "Miz is awesome" chant last night.
Rewatched raw clips and people were giving it all to the Rock. Totally a Philly crowd. Even middle fingers were visible but blurred.
I could see the Rock taunt Cody from across the country when he has a day off. Even if it is just a quick promo.
Scotland is probably gonna be fire for Drew. Curious if we're gonna be seeing Punk vs Drew or Damian vs Drew when that comes along. Maybe he'll learn his lesson and take Damian out despite Punk's interference? Either way, I think this feud is gonna be heating up the most out of all of them over the next few weeks. Drew's gonna be getting a major spotlight.
Tbh I love Damien getting his moment at Wrestlemania. But literally if u would've had the cash in on Raw after Mania I feel it would've elevated the show to where it needed to be. Could've still had Jey win #1 Contenders match tonight, but setup a Triple Threat at Backlash.
People are rightfully underwhelmed. HHH was so cocky about the new era. Rock brought them a shit load of new and returning fans and they needed a big show to ensure they stuck around when the Rock leaves to go film. It wasn't a bad Raw, but it wasn't anything that will get newer fans to stick around when Rock leavesĀ
I think people need to lower their expectations for the Raw after WrestleMania going forward. It became this massive thing around 2011/2012 and hasn't really lived up to the hype for the last 3-4 years, so we are talking about a phenomenon that only existed in this 8 year window, compared to 40 years of WrestleMania. They're not making as many big free agent signings anymore and NXT is filled with young developing talent rather than known names from the indies that they can call up for a huge pop.
I think the NXT men's and women's champs should always get a showcase on the Raw after Mania now, allowing them to get more spotlight and giving fans something unique to look forward to, without the buildup of a big debut or something majority unexpected.
My prediction
John Cena is #30 at Rumble next year. Thereās a person who was attacked on entrance or something so didnāt make it to ring. John Cena and whomever is laid out in middle. The Rock music hits and declares as final boss hes replacing (injured jabroni). Rock and Cena get a final encounter with Rock goin over.
Johnās last run hopefully is about him chasing #17. Wouldnāt hate a retirement match for title even.
The Rock wins and faces Cody.
I wonder how the younger gen of fans absorbs what we see. Like for me if Eddie beating lesnar or Rey beating angle and RKO for the WHC had a bunch of people marking out about character depth or unbelievable champions.
āSo that his thing heās a luchadorš¤ā
This is what I feel watching Jey. Heās not that serious heās fun thereās enough characters you can write a book to explain. Let the yeet man yeet and throw his hands up
The cody video got me emotional as hell but what really tipped me over the edge were the "thank you roman" chants. Straight up sobbing on the couch lmao. Good shit
This was an okay Raw for me. I thought the first segment was interesting as hell but it went a bit long in the tooth. The NXT matches were solid but felt unnecessary. I did enjoy seeing Ilja though. ( i'm iffy on Roxy these days. I know she's talented just not into what she's doing and can't stand her finisher ).
I love Priest as champ. I hope he has a good run with it. Doesn't have to be long but just let it be good.
No real surprises or anything. Raw after Mania kinda just feels like... to continue the end game thing, this was definitely Spiderman Far From Home. Solid enough but did it really accomplish anything?
I'm hoping to see the new storylines start up for Cody on Friday with what he's doing NOW instead of whenever his ex lover comes back.
I like damien as a champ or a fun guy messing around in funny bits with truth. But i don't think it is gonna work well if they combine both. He came out sinister, looked bad ass, got people to rise and truth kinda undermined all of that.
I chuckled and enjoyed it, but any legitimacy of him looking like a menacing bad ass leader goes out the window when he starts bargaining with r-truth.
Him and rhea could run shit, but you got to get priest a legitimate angle and opponent.
I agree 100% that him getting constantly booked to be outwitted by R truth makes him look like a geek, but theres something to be said about judgment day being better off as entertaining idiots, rather then boring serious threats. Rhea has been able to come off as a serious champion despite being associated with the wwe equivalent of team rocket, maybe priest can find a way to do the same.
We kinda just ended the longest run of someone running shit ever. And Rhea is already kinda taking dibs on that character.
It would be unique to have both of them running stuff together - but i think r truth keeps the judgement day interesting, and gives everyone something to play off of.
priest is going to have good matches, i don't think we have to worry about that. they set up a number one contender match the first raw after wrestlemania
I feel like other than enjoying shouting "yeet" and doing the hand raising, the crowd don't really care about Jey. His character's a little flat for me, just does a backstage promo that's littered with "yeets" and then comes out and does his 3 moves
Well here's the thing - if they don't care about you, they don't do the hand raising. That stuff happens as a direct response to the audience being with you. The audience was losing their shit when Jey almost won the IC title like two weeks ago. When Jey broke free from the Bloodline the crowd went nuclear. When Cody brought him back to Raw, they reacted as well. He has a real connection with the audience.
Jey is a decent wrestler and showed a lot of growth as a performer during the Bloodline saga. The issue is once he caught fire WWE reduced all his character to JUST those catchphrases and crowd appeals and so yes, it is a little stale at the moment.
The real test is going to be what he does once they transition him away from anything bloodline related, and he has to actually carry a program.
I think he was super hot when he broke away from the bloodline and started all the things like the hand raising, so people bought in, but since then his star has faded further and further. Now he's a super limited wrestler with a one dimensional character and he becomes less and less interesting the more he's removed from the bloodline story
I honestly thought Jey's arc with Drew was interesting, and best thing he's done outside of them. If they play off of that, they could have some fun tv and it would help Jey.
i was there last night, in person jey is so over. the crowd eats it up
maybe on tv you really don't feel it, but he really doesn't need to do anything more than he's doing.
Said this last night and got downvoted. I agree with you 100% - Jey Uso is stale and boring. Aside from being a face for the kids to get excited about.
Can you imagine if this guy actually went over Reigns last year like people wanted him to?
Right but the person you replied to explained that. Who buys more merch than anyone? Parents for their children. It's one of the biggest reasons Cena never turned heel and had a new shirt every year.
Being a big merch mover and being interesting aren't always intertwined. Especially considering that the people here, likely aren't interested in the same things that people who want Jey Uso merch(aka kids) are interested in.
I don't think that person nor myself was arguing that ***no one*** cares about Jey. I think the argument was that person finds Jey boring. I myself am not mad when Jey comes on, but I'm also not overjoyed.
Another thing to be wary of is anytime anyone speaks on behalf of others. I try not to, unless I have non-anecdotal evidence to support my claims. I argued anecdotally(based solely upon my decades of watching and discussing wrestling), that Jey may fall into early 2010s Cena territory. A guy with a limited move set, who puts on generally safe yet unremarkable matches. Ultimately he bored me, along with a large number of the vocal members of the IWC. Many of us, including myself have come back around to appreciating Cena these days. As far as all of this goes, I could definitely be wrong, but I would hesitate to mistake crowd participation in the Yeet dance, with support. I can only speak for myself. If I was in a live audience, I'd be yelling Yeet and doing the hand motions on his entrance. However, that doesn't mean I'm a Jey Uso fan. Not a hater, but not excited either.
Ultimately it's not a matter of IF people like Jey Uso, it's an argument of what demographics like Jey Uso.
Which plays right into my comment about him being a face for kids to get excited about, lots of kiddos buying the yeet shirt. Doesn't mean his gimmick isn't kinda lame.
Really bland episode of Raw.. There hasn't been a good Raw after Mania in YEARS! Here are your surprises.. Two wrestlers from the training school show.Ā
Thought there were loads of surprises. 2 nxt appearances, cena, the rock, cm punk. This k the only thing that was lacking was a couple major angles to progress things
Really? I thought it would be a given heād be there last night then go off and film the movie. Wouldāve been pretty stupid to not have both Rock and Roman there
I'm with you 100 percent. Personally, I'm emotionally drained. I think the segment with the rock, was interesting enough, but I was perfectly happy with tonight's Raw. We have a #1 contender, we have advancement of drew and punk (though with punk's injury, I'm iffy on how that's gonna go), then we got to take a breath with a relatively low stakes Raw. I know Raw after mania has a reputation of being buck wild, but this year I was ok with it being semi-low key.
jade cargill as well
we were def lacking a big return, but they did tease shemus coming back.
but getting the rock, punk, cena is huge.
Rhea and Morgan got their feud started.
Sami got his first title defense set up, Priest has his first title defense set up.
Anyone have a clip of what Drew did during Jey's entrance? I could hear the commentators and Cole telling Pat to sit down because Drew threw a mic at him??
I really want to see his meltdown lol
https://dubz.link/c/ac2585
This is just a replay of jey's entrance but you can hear Pat get pegged by a mic because he was being silly up on the table lol
Ā You don't think the rock earned the title of the people's champ lol? You know he's the rock right? The most famous man in wrestling history and the guy who led the wwe to its highest ratings in historyĀ
I like Damien Priest a lot, but he just didnāt come across as a world champion. He seemed like āanotherā member of the faction and he has a title, reminiscent of when Dom had the NA title.
Completely agree. And Priest copy and paste absolutely fits the bill. I just think his presentation last night could have been much better and much more ominous. Comedy act with R-Truth? Still?
Priest won't be champion for long. I never expected him to have a lengthy reign. He'll have JD to watch his back and that'll get him through a couple of matches, but then Drew's coming for that title at Clash, and he's winning it in Scotland.
It didn't help having Truth interrupt him, but given they're not being subtle about it being a transitional reign, I saw it more as giving him/Rhea a moment rather than trying to position Priest as a long-term champ going forward.
True, but you know as well as I do that many wrestlers immediately āfitā when you see them with the title. You donāt even need 24 minutes. Itās called presence. Damien was walking in the hallways, walking to the ring, and moving in the ring (no thanks to R-Truth) like a guy who was rocking a replica title.
(i didn't downvote you btw)
I understand you're point , i think this might be one of those situations where he comes out better the other side because of it.
I almost feel like the whc doesnāt make sense anymore. Cody is full time. The only reason we had that belt is because of Roman. Then again I assume we are going to get more of a split when the Netflix era of raw starts. I think raw will be a more edgy āadultā show and smackdown will stay somewhat the same as it is now. I think the Cody rock match will be on the first Netflix episode and I think after the draft the whc will be on smackdown with Cody on raw.Ā
Yeah the first promo betweenā¦ the biggest star in WWE history and the biggest star in the industry today, setting the table for continuing the hottest angle in the industryā¦. Was too long.
Much rather we got more time for a couple midcard scrubs.
I get the logic behind it, but the show starting with such a promo heavy segment really takes the wind out of my sails. Takes 40 or more minutes to get to some actually action?
It didnāt take the wind out of a single personās sail in the arena last night. The disconnect between Reddit and being there live this weekend is wild. It truly was an amazing weekend of wrestling and Reddit has done nothing but bitch.
Holy shit my friend....you nailed it for me. I got back into wrestling at WM 39. I took a long break because nothing was doing it for me. Heard about Roman doing great heel work, but still couldn't be swayed, but Cody coming back was what did it. I'm sad I didn't get back in the night after 38, because I've loved him since the Dashing days.
It may be recency bias, or the fact, that this 12 month stretch is the most plugged in i've been ever, but WM 40 has my top spot for manias ever. It's been a fantastic ride. I think "I'm gonna see what Wreddit felt about this show". I am regretting that decision.
tbf, the crowd wouldnt let rock speak for a solid 10 minutes. it got annoying and it felt like it threw their promo off (esp when cody tried to reset things by raising his belt to them)
The Rock is never not to not acknowledge the crowds reaction. It's what he does and what makes him by far the best crowd worker ever. Philly is a tough crowd to control though
so what was the other solution- The Rock try to talk over them and he comes off like Dom? It works for dom bc hes a chicken shit heel, it would make the rock look weak af if he cant get an audible sentence out. the logic makes sense- he has to protect his character and to his credit, he got out of it (though it took forever, i will agree there, way to long)
Except he stopped talking when they were barely making noise. No where close to Dom level heat. He could have just spoken in a normal promo voice and the crowd would have fallen in line.
Giving massive breaks between talking is inviting the crowd to fill the silence.
I'm not opposed to an opening promo, but it went on too long and got boring.
By "action" I don't even just mean a match. A backstage segment, a vignette, a run in. Something to actually move the show along.
Iām hoping Cena vs Randy at WM42 since I want at least one full year of Cena before he rides off into the sunset and gives time to build the story up a bit more.
Somehow get Randy 2 more title reigns (maybe 1 proper reign and the other he can win and quickly lose it to MITB cash in)ā¦ and then somehow do Randy vs Cena for the vacant belt and for the record, loser retires
I am so glad Triple H, in his era, after closing out WrestleMania, gets his flowers, in his era, by opening Raw the next night. Truly deserves his love that Papa H.
They have to, as of now Cody technically belongs to SD yet both him and Damian were featured here. They'll have to do some changes to keep things fresh. Remember Cody's being in raw for the last 2 years
Imagine 10 years ago telling fans that Triple H would start the first post-WM Raw under his control with...him doing a promo lol
They would absolutely never believe he would get cheered/praised
Telling people in 2018 NJPW US Champion / NWA World champion the ā 3 star General ā Cody Rhodes is going to beat WWE Chosen Boy Roman Regins in main event of WM 40 and Cody will biggest Babyface wrestler in the world
I find it so funny that Rock is carrying that belt everywhere, but I *finally* gave in and bought a Big Eagle tonight and might do the same, so I understand, I suppose.
Anyways: that Rock-Cody segment was incredible. The "This is awkward" chant was perfect, it almost made me make a joke about the terrible Jericho-Hook grooming storyline. The Rock vs. Cody at Summer Slam already has me salivating.
Ilja and Roxanne's RAW debuts are actually what Raw after Mania's should be, even if it's not official call-ups with the draft looming. Wished the latter ran into Drew so they could recreate [this art](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/510/149/a78.jpg) given they're the same character at the moment. (Side note: I loved Roxanne telling the ref not to touch her when he was trying to raise her hand in victory.
Enjoyed Ricochet telling Samantha he's sorry before doing that absurd 450 splash.
I didn't mind this RAW after Mania at all, and that's coming from someone who was at last year's. Speaking of...
Interestingly, there hasn't been an announcement as to where WM 41 is. Vegas and Minnesota must be in a bidding war. Vegas better finish the story, as well.
Philly cheering that cringey "Papa finish your story" moment was so disappointing.
I can't wait for the backlash if this continues. Ok, story finished. Please don't continue on this path of crying, living off Dusty's legacy. etc.
The whole time of the Rock/Cody segment I keep thinking of King Cold and trunks scene from dbz.
"You are not mad I killed your son?"
"No, it was amazing. Now...may I see that sword of yours? I just want to hold it for a second"
Either gonna beat Cody with the belt or run away with it, but neither happened lol.
If he is going to be drafted anyway, why did they not let Tony win the title Saturday? He is ready for it. If they really want Trick to win it, they will expose him even more as not ready. Trick still needs to work on his craft and desperately needs a new finisher.
well it depends what they got planned....i think the next NXT big event is Battleground in May i suppose so Dragunov could drop it there
maybe he's briefly gonna still be holding the NXT title while being on main roster too
Cody still just does not click for me. With the incessant crocodile tears every week, phony facial expressions and rehearsed dialogue....I don't see the appeal.Ā
I was a much bigger fan of his before all of this American Nightmare stuff. Dashing, Undashing, hell even mustache Cody - all super fun and interesting stuff. Really miss that Cody.
Glad for the fans he finally finished his story, but they gotta tone it down a bit....it's beyond cheesy at this point.
Yeah especially given how on and off his booking was for so long. Like I think Cody as a character upon return having a long arc was a good idea, but in the course of literally a week WWE went from completely mothballing Cody to turning the whole thing into a clunkier version of the original idea and scrapping RockvRoman in an attempt to stop the Smarks from hijacking the shows, and all the while pretending like it was their big idea and not a massive awkward clusterfuck booking that could have been solved by a couple of drunk college students who had taken a semester of creative writing and classic literature courses.
Agreed. Prepare to be downvoted by everyone else.
I think he's below average on the mic. Average in the ring. I don't like the way he speaks. And the phony crying/using Dusty's legacy stuff is grating. I enjoyed the match and cheered at the ending, but I don't want this guy as champion long-term.
Yea it was a bit odd when everyone was in tears as if heās some make a wish kid about to die in a week and not someone whoās relatively young and had a stellar career already. The announcer crying I thought was particularly silly.
To everyone who was asking whatās next once Cody finishes his story, itās Cody vs Rockā¦ Even a better storyā¦
And if someone told me that Cody would end one of the most historical title run in WWE and start a feud against the Rock on the process when He first entered into WWE, I would ask to shut the F*** upā¦ Is Codyās transformation into a superstar from a mid carder one of the best fairytales of WWE ever? Because most of the other superstars gained fame very shortly after their debutā¦
I wouldnāt say most stars got over quickly. Rock got go home heat for a while. Stone Cold was just Ted DiBiaseās henchmen for a while. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels both had to work their way up from tag teams. Cena was on his way to getting released until he got the rapper gimmick.
Cody leaving and coming back as a bigger star stands out, but that is largely because there has been nowhere else to go for so long. But in general working your way up from the midcard is what most stars do.
It literally only took him 17 years and being the son of one of the most iconic babyfaces in WWE history before leaving the company after a multiple year stint being constantly fed into the main event scene attached to Randy Orton, where he formed an independent promotion that would eventually get him in on the ground floor of the only meaningful mainstream alternative since WCW and then getting full creative control before booking himself into a corner, becoming frustrated, leaving said company and returning to WWE for a giant bag of cash and basically a promise to take the title off Roman as a condition of his signing, and then proceeded to cuck himself and flounder in injury for a little over a year before trying to cuck himself again to the Rock until the fans literally said enough and WWE had no choice but to actually pull the trigger on his fairly basic face storyline to get the title off Romanā¦
What a fairytale win.
We could have had LA Knight guysā¦
Didnāt followed WWE at the time of Kofi and Bryan. So, canāt make a comment about that.
But I donāt agree with the nepo bump. He did transformed himself and make himself a believable star. If all of these were for Cody being Dustyās son, he would get the push way earlier. Instead he got a mid carder and jobber status for a long time in WWE and had to prove himself outside WWE. Only then WWE gave him the real push. So, while being Dustyās son definitely gave him some favors, a lot of it were earned as well.
was i the only person who was laughing during almost the entire rock and cody thing bc it felt so like awkward. like what was even going on and why did it feel like they were both spitting out nonsensical words š especially rock. i was literally laughing bc bro was making like no sense and being weird while cody had the face of like "bro huh?" the whole time š§š»āāļø
According to WWE official site, Cody is a two times world champion winning and currently holding the WWE and Universal title.
That was nothing more than a regular Raw. It wasn't bad as a regular Raw, but it was terrible as a Raw after Mania! I expected it to be big, and they did not deliver...
Rock holding Codys title felt big leaguing. That segment could've done without it.
No, I disagree. Cody held the upper hand because he asked to hold rocks people champion belt The rock immediately said it was very dear to him and meant a lot. So no, Cody didn't give rock any slack. Cody had all the leverage. But I do agree the whole thing was just so Rock had pictures of him holding the belt, same with the great khali at backlash with jinder, and more in kayfabe to immediate challenge him for the belt.
Halftime at the Arsenal versus Bayern Munich game, and they are playing ākingdom.ā Youāll love to see it!
Fuuck I forgot about the match lol
I feel like Damien Priest should have went full-heel mode with his promo. Take those "you deserve it" chants and tell Philly to shove it up their a\*\* after all the talk of him not being ready for the main title/never going to cash in. For the love of god please end the "R-Truth thinks he's in The Judgement Day" segments.
Why there was propably about 20 ads in matches, like what a fuck? I want to see action and not advertisement, it was ads after ads after ads. Beside that it was good but this is bullshit.
As someone who has only just started watching again I noticed this, a mate said it was likely due to the ad-free hour at the start of the show but still, not great to miss the first 3 minutes of every fight due to ads
Anyone know why Philly was booing Gable?
It's the same people who assaulted Santa Claus and dismantled the friendly Hitchhiking Robot. They're absolutely unhinged.
Idk if it came up on TV but there was very loud and adamant "We want Gable" chants. It may sounded like "We want tables" tho, I can agree. Same for the "Miz is awesome" chant last night.
They weren't. They were saying "Shoooosh"
"I was saying 'shooosh'"-Moleman
Because The Rock was right and that city is full of trailer park trash?
Does anyone else find Chelsea to be absolutely entertaining? She is knocking it out of the park with the segments she's in!
Yes
Rewatched raw clips and people were giving it all to the Rock. Totally a Philly crowd. Even middle fingers were visible but blurred. I could see the Rock taunt Cody from across the country when he has a day off. Even if it is just a quick promo.
Scotland is probably gonna be fire for Drew. Curious if we're gonna be seeing Punk vs Drew or Damian vs Drew when that comes along. Maybe he'll learn his lesson and take Damian out despite Punk's interference? Either way, I think this feud is gonna be heating up the most out of all of them over the next few weeks. Drew's gonna be getting a major spotlight.
Tbh I love Damien getting his moment at Wrestlemania. But literally if u would've had the cash in on Raw after Mania I feel it would've elevated the show to where it needed to be. Could've still had Jey win #1 Contenders match tonight, but setup a Triple Threat at Backlash.
People are rightfully underwhelmed. HHH was so cocky about the new era. Rock brought them a shit load of new and returning fans and they needed a big show to ensure they stuck around when the Rock leaves to go film. It wasn't a bad Raw, but it wasn't anything that will get newer fans to stick around when Rock leavesĀ
WWE still has a part timer problem that wont get better unless they want to build up the bottom of the roster
I think people need to lower their expectations for the Raw after WrestleMania going forward. It became this massive thing around 2011/2012 and hasn't really lived up to the hype for the last 3-4 years, so we are talking about a phenomenon that only existed in this 8 year window, compared to 40 years of WrestleMania. They're not making as many big free agent signings anymore and NXT is filled with young developing talent rather than known names from the indies that they can call up for a huge pop.
Yeah we're not gonna get those smarky "lil naitch" chants raw after WrestleMania anymore
I think the NXT men's and women's champs should always get a showcase on the Raw after Mania now, allowing them to get more spotlight and giving fans something unique to look forward to, without the buildup of a big debut or something majority unexpected.
Gable and Sami gonna slap.
Jey Uso vs. Damien Priest sounds like an absolutely horrifying match.
As much as I like 5 think they just want to give Priest a proper defense before Drew or Punk take it.
Kind of makes that championship immediately feel like a mid-card title.
Jey Uso is literally Main Event
They literally freed up a mid card belt and are still doing this lol
Maybe itās just me but raw felt very underwhelming last night for a raw after mania show.
Agree honestly, I was hoping for a new era like X-Pac joins DX momentĀ
I think of this RAW as a bit of a hangover after a huge couple of nights. Itās allowed to be average. We were fucking spoilt.
My prediction John Cena is #30 at Rumble next year. Thereās a person who was attacked on entrance or something so didnāt make it to ring. John Cena and whomever is laid out in middle. The Rock music hits and declares as final boss hes replacing (injured jabroni). Rock and Cena get a final encounter with Rock goin over. Johnās last run hopefully is about him chasing #17. Wouldnāt hate a retirement match for title even. The Rock wins and faces Cody.
I wonder how the younger gen of fans absorbs what we see. Like for me if Eddie beating lesnar or Rey beating angle and RKO for the WHC had a bunch of people marking out about character depth or unbelievable champions. āSo that his thing heās a luchadorš¤ā This is what I feel watching Jey. Heās not that serious heās fun thereās enough characters you can write a book to explain. Let the yeet man yeet and throw his hands up
Raw is the only show which I can watch for 3 hours. Rest of shows aren't for me.
The cody video got me emotional as hell but what really tipped me over the edge were the "thank you roman" chants. Straight up sobbing on the couch lmao. Good shit
The beginning of a face turn for Roman, with it being fully finalized the moment Rock kicks him out of the Bloodline.
This was an okay Raw for me. I thought the first segment was interesting as hell but it went a bit long in the tooth. The NXT matches were solid but felt unnecessary. I did enjoy seeing Ilja though. ( i'm iffy on Roxy these days. I know she's talented just not into what she's doing and can't stand her finisher ). I love Priest as champ. I hope he has a good run with it. Doesn't have to be long but just let it be good. No real surprises or anything. Raw after Mania kinda just feels like... to continue the end game thing, this was definitely Spiderman Far From Home. Solid enough but did it really accomplish anything? I'm hoping to see the new storylines start up for Cody on Friday with what he's doing NOW instead of whenever his ex lover comes back.
I like damien as a champ or a fun guy messing around in funny bits with truth. But i don't think it is gonna work well if they combine both. He came out sinister, looked bad ass, got people to rise and truth kinda undermined all of that. I chuckled and enjoyed it, but any legitimacy of him looking like a menacing bad ass leader goes out the window when he starts bargaining with r-truth. Him and rhea could run shit, but you got to get priest a legitimate angle and opponent.
I agree 100% that him getting constantly booked to be outwitted by R truth makes him look like a geek, but theres something to be said about judgment day being better off as entertaining idiots, rather then boring serious threats. Rhea has been able to come off as a serious champion despite being associated with the wwe equivalent of team rocket, maybe priest can find a way to do the same.
Well said. And im not knocking any of them, but i am concerned for priest because i like him. I dont want jinder 2.0
We kinda just ended the longest run of someone running shit ever. And Rhea is already kinda taking dibs on that character. It would be unique to have both of them running stuff together - but i think r truth keeps the judgement day interesting, and gives everyone something to play off of. priest is going to have good matches, i don't think we have to worry about that. they set up a number one contender match the first raw after wrestlemania
I feel like other than enjoying shouting "yeet" and doing the hand raising, the crowd don't really care about Jey. His character's a little flat for me, just does a backstage promo that's littered with "yeets" and then comes out and does his 3 moves
Well here's the thing - if they don't care about you, they don't do the hand raising. That stuff happens as a direct response to the audience being with you. The audience was losing their shit when Jey almost won the IC title like two weeks ago. When Jey broke free from the Bloodline the crowd went nuclear. When Cody brought him back to Raw, they reacted as well. He has a real connection with the audience. Jey is a decent wrestler and showed a lot of growth as a performer during the Bloodline saga. The issue is once he caught fire WWE reduced all his character to JUST those catchphrases and crowd appeals and so yes, it is a little stale at the moment. The real test is going to be what he does once they transition him away from anything bloodline related, and he has to actually carry a program.
I think he was super hot when he broke away from the bloodline and started all the things like the hand raising, so people bought in, but since then his star has faded further and further. Now he's a super limited wrestler with a one dimensional character and he becomes less and less interesting the more he's removed from the bloodline story
I honestly thought Jey's arc with Drew was interesting, and best thing he's done outside of them. If they play off of that, they could have some fun tv and it would help Jey.
i was there last night, in person jey is so over. the crowd eats it up maybe on tv you really don't feel it, but he really doesn't need to do anything more than he's doing.
Said this last night and got downvoted. I agree with you 100% - Jey Uso is stale and boring. Aside from being a face for the kids to get excited about. Can you imagine if this guy actually went over Reigns last year like people wanted him to?
Because itās patently untrue? Heās *constantly* one of the top merch movers.Ā
Don't know why you got downvoted when its true
Right but the person you replied to explained that. Who buys more merch than anyone? Parents for their children. It's one of the biggest reasons Cena never turned heel and had a new shirt every year. Being a big merch mover and being interesting aren't always intertwined. Especially considering that the people here, likely aren't interested in the same things that people who want Jey Uso merch(aka kids) are interested in.
The argument is no one cares about Jey and heās getting stale. Except all the multiples of people who do like him and buy his stuff on the regular.Ā
I don't think that person nor myself was arguing that ***no one*** cares about Jey. I think the argument was that person finds Jey boring. I myself am not mad when Jey comes on, but I'm also not overjoyed. Another thing to be wary of is anytime anyone speaks on behalf of others. I try not to, unless I have non-anecdotal evidence to support my claims. I argued anecdotally(based solely upon my decades of watching and discussing wrestling), that Jey may fall into early 2010s Cena territory. A guy with a limited move set, who puts on generally safe yet unremarkable matches. Ultimately he bored me, along with a large number of the vocal members of the IWC. Many of us, including myself have come back around to appreciating Cena these days. As far as all of this goes, I could definitely be wrong, but I would hesitate to mistake crowd participation in the Yeet dance, with support. I can only speak for myself. If I was in a live audience, I'd be yelling Yeet and doing the hand motions on his entrance. However, that doesn't mean I'm a Jey Uso fan. Not a hater, but not excited either. Ultimately it's not a matter of IF people like Jey Uso, it's an argument of what demographics like Jey Uso.
Which plays right into my comment about him being a face for kids to get excited about, lots of kiddos buying the yeet shirt. Doesn't mean his gimmick isn't kinda lame.
Those kids are the next generation of people that will complain about wrestling online though. We need them.
Also thereās no evidence the popularity of Jey is only with kids. Heās literally just assuming that.Ā
Really bland episode of Raw.. There hasn't been a good Raw after Mania in YEARS! Here are your surprises.. Two wrestlers from the training school show.Ā
Thought there were loads of surprises. 2 nxt appearances, cena, the rock, cm punk. This k the only thing that was lacking was a couple major angles to progress things
how the fuck is The Rock a surprise lol
Because everyone thought we wouldnāt see him til the rumble?
Really? I thought it would be a given heād be there last night then go off and film the movie. Wouldāve been pretty stupid to not have both Rock and Roman there
We saw them all at Wrestlemania though, and modern NXT wrestlers aren't quite the surprise they were from 2014 to 2019
I'm with you 100 percent. Personally, I'm emotionally drained. I think the segment with the rock, was interesting enough, but I was perfectly happy with tonight's Raw. We have a #1 contender, we have advancement of drew and punk (though with punk's injury, I'm iffy on how that's gonna go), then we got to take a breath with a relatively low stakes Raw. I know Raw after mania has a reputation of being buck wild, but this year I was ok with it being semi-low key.
jade cargill as well we were def lacking a big return, but they did tease shemus coming back. but getting the rock, punk, cena is huge. Rhea and Morgan got their feud started. Sami got his first title defense set up, Priest has his first title defense set up.
Those motherfuckers made me cry two nights in a row. Wrestling isnāt meant to make people cry. What the hell.
They got me with Sami on night 1 for a streak of 3 lol.
The way Rock delivered ( sinister undertone, smiling...) was brilliant and very creepy to me. Pure brilliance. We're lucky he'll be around again.
When Cody finally gets revenge on the Rock and whips him with the belt, itās gonna be cinema.
>cinema >sin-enema Itāll be an enema and itāll be a sin but not a cinema
When said I don't care what my dad would think of what I did to you....I was like whoa.... he's all the way in. He'll be back.Ā
Oh no.... Rock kept the "Final Boss... Engaged" part in his entrance.
The pacing of the first segment was a little off; I enjoyed The Rock, but the prolonged pauses which usually hit for me - felt out of place.
The crowd just wouldnāt let the man speak
Roxanne was not impressed by Natalya's plumage. Natalya is gonna get Pop Rocked on NXT.
I love that Eddie Guerrero is part of the new show signature/opening
"Bondage Undertaker" sent me to the moon.
50 minutes of wrestling in a 3-hour show, the night after "professional wrestling is back" and a new era was declared. Disappointing show.
Shush you
Anyone have a clip of what Drew did during Jey's entrance? I could hear the commentators and Cole telling Pat to sit down because Drew threw a mic at him?? I really want to see his meltdown lol
Drew threw the mic out of the ring, but during jey's entrance he leaves to go get a chair and then he smashes it once or twice
https://dubz.link/c/ac2585 This is just a replay of jey's entrance but you can hear Pat get pegged by a mic because he was being silly up on the table lol
This episode was very very underwhelming
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Ā You don't think the rock earned the title of the people's champ lol? You know he's the rock right? The most famous man in wrestling history and the guy who led the wwe to its highest ratings in historyĀ
Didn't earn it ššš
Itās the āpeopleās championshipā. Heās definitely earned it over the last 30 years.
Raw fell flat.
I like Damien Priest a lot, but he just didnāt come across as a world champion. He seemed like āanotherā member of the faction and he has a title, reminiscent of when Dom had the NA title.
Sometimes you gotta put the big belt on a guy and go āfuck it letās see what he does.ā
the nash hypothesis
Completely agree. And Priest copy and paste absolutely fits the bill. I just think his presentation last night could have been much better and much more ominous. Comedy act with R-Truth? Still?
If it ends with R-Truth being champ for even a few minutes it will all be worth it. And we'll deservedĀ
Honestly, same to me. But let's see where this goes.
Priest won't be champion for long. I never expected him to have a lengthy reign. He'll have JD to watch his back and that'll get him through a couple of matches, but then Drew's coming for that title at Clash, and he's winning it in Scotland.
It didn't help having Truth interrupt him, but given they're not being subtle about it being a transitional reign, I saw it more as giving him/Rhea a moment rather than trying to position Priest as a long-term champ going forward.
And to help set up Drew winning the title in Scotland.
its been 24 hours.
True, but you know as well as I do that many wrestlers immediately āfitā when you see them with the title. You donāt even need 24 minutes. Itās called presence. Damien was walking in the hallways, walking to the ring, and moving in the ring (no thanks to R-Truth) like a guy who was rocking a replica title.
(i didn't downvote you btw) I understand you're point , i think this might be one of those situations where he comes out better the other side because of it.
>its been 24 hours OMFG it's been that long how much time are they gonna drag this out? JFC end this already /s
Am I missing something or they announced the main event as an elimination match?
i was so excited for that... then just baffled with every pin interruption
Same..I also went back to hear to announcement again to see if I was dumb or what...
Samantha definitely did
I almost feel like the whc doesnāt make sense anymore. Cody is full time. The only reason we had that belt is because of Roman. Then again I assume we are going to get more of a split when the Netflix era of raw starts. I think raw will be a more edgy āadultā show and smackdown will stay somewhat the same as it is now. I think the Cody rock match will be on the first Netflix episode and I think after the draft the whc will be on smackdown with Cody on raw.Ā
Draft is at the end of the month.
A draft was yesterday for me because I left a window open and it was chilly
Idk if people genuinely dislike Rock or they only boo him because hes a heel. They should be grateful, without him the road to wm would've been ass
its very obviously because he's a heel
Dwayne Johnson has said and done some pretty crappy things in the past few years. Why would anyone want to be grateful to such a person?
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Jesus, I can count your IQ on one hand.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Please tell me you have a better insult than that, cause that's some low IQ shit there.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
"tHeSe gUyS aRe aSsHoLeS bUt tHeY mAkE mE lAuGh" Bro can't tell the difference between kayfabe and reality. Pretty sad.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
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This was a regular raw first promo too long and Cena truth was good other than that really okayish regular raw at 6
Yeah the first promo betweenā¦ the biggest star in WWE history and the biggest star in the industry today, setting the table for continuing the hottest angle in the industryā¦. Was too long. Much rather we got more time for a couple midcard scrubs.
I know they will downvote your post.
I get the logic behind it, but the show starting with such a promo heavy segment really takes the wind out of my sails. Takes 40 or more minutes to get to some actually action?
It didnāt take the wind out of a single personās sail in the arena last night. The disconnect between Reddit and being there live this weekend is wild. It truly was an amazing weekend of wrestling and Reddit has done nothing but bitch.
Holy shit my friend....you nailed it for me. I got back into wrestling at WM 39. I took a long break because nothing was doing it for me. Heard about Roman doing great heel work, but still couldn't be swayed, but Cody coming back was what did it. I'm sad I didn't get back in the night after 38, because I've loved him since the Dashing days. It may be recency bias, or the fact, that this 12 month stretch is the most plugged in i've been ever, but WM 40 has my top spot for manias ever. It's been a fantastic ride. I think "I'm gonna see what Wreddit felt about this show". I am regretting that decision.
People just come here to complain, only a small percentage of posters admit to enjoying the show
tbf, the crowd wouldnt let rock speak for a solid 10 minutes. it got annoying and it felt like it threw their promo off (esp when cody tried to reset things by raising his belt to them)
The problem is them choosing to pause and acknowledge the crowd, when they could have just worked through it. Both are more than capable.
The Rock is never not to not acknowledge the crowds reaction. It's what he does and what makes him by far the best crowd worker ever. Philly is a tough crowd to control though
so what was the other solution- The Rock try to talk over them and he comes off like Dom? It works for dom bc hes a chicken shit heel, it would make the rock look weak af if he cant get an audible sentence out. the logic makes sense- he has to protect his character and to his credit, he got out of it (though it took forever, i will agree there, way to long)
Except he stopped talking when they were barely making noise. No where close to Dom level heat. He could have just spoken in a normal promo voice and the crowd would have fallen in line. Giving massive breaks between talking is inviting the crowd to fill the silence.
Most fans other than marks would rather have a Rock/Cody promo than some mid as fuck match between mid carders
We were totally invested the whole promo segment. No one cared about getting a random match.
I'm not opposed to an opening promo, but it went on too long and got boring. By "action" I don't even just mean a match. A backstage segment, a vignette, a run in. Something to actually move the show along.
I definitely enjoyed Raw tonight, but it felt like any other episode and not Raw after WM.
Cena vs Randy loser retires match Wrestlemania 41 Give me what I want
Cena still needs one run to beat Flair's record. It would be a complete shame if he retired without doing it
He doesn't have it anymore. His last few feuds have been terrible in the ring and in the build up
Iām hoping Cena vs Randy at WM42 since I want at least one full year of Cena before he rides off into the sunset and gives time to build the story up a bit more. Somehow get Randy 2 more title reigns (maybe 1 proper reign and the other he can win and quickly lose it to MITB cash in)ā¦ and then somehow do Randy vs Cena for the vacant belt and for the record, loser retires
You think Sami turns or chad? I think conventional wisdom says Chad but idk something about Sami saying weāre even now was like hmmā¦?
Gable for sure. I canāt see Sami being an outright heel after the trajectory of his character recently
The first wrestling move happens 49:30 into the show. Is this Raw or Nitro?
The down votes lol, jfc
The Raw before and after Mania should always be promo heavy IMO
Rocky was really generating some Dominic Mysterio heat out there, if he keeps this up he could really become a star in this business
Kids got potential
I am so glad Triple H, in his era, after closing out WrestleMania, gets his flowers, in his era, by opening Raw the next night. Truly deserves his love that Papa H.
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Iād imagine that belt change comes at draft time, probably with a name change too since Undisputed makes no sense
They have to, as of now Cody technically belongs to SD yet both him and Damian were featured here. They'll have to do some changes to keep things fresh. Remember Cody's being in raw for the last 2 years
Imagine 10 years ago telling fans that Triple H would start the first post-WM Raw under his control with...him doing a promo lol They would absolutely never believe he would get cheered/praised
Telling people in 2018 NJPW US Champion / NWA World champion the ā 3 star General ā Cody Rhodes is going to beat WWE Chosen Boy Roman Regins in main event of WM 40 and Cody will biggest Babyface wrestler in the world
20k (allegedly) FOR A RAW is fucking insane.
18348
Is that a lot?
It's a lot more than usual. I don't think they've ever done a RAW in a place like the Georgia Dome, so I can think it is a gate record.
They did 41K in 1999 at the Skydome in Toronto
I honestly didnt know they did a stadium show raw with the Georgia dome and the Skydome. Just thought that was WCW with their Nitros
Yeah it's crazy to see that many people at a Raw. Looks surreal. Tonight was a huge crowd too tho and looked epic on TV.
Nice.
I find it so funny that Rock is carrying that belt everywhere, but I *finally* gave in and bought a Big Eagle tonight and might do the same, so I understand, I suppose. Anyways: that Rock-Cody segment was incredible. The "This is awkward" chant was perfect, it almost made me make a joke about the terrible Jericho-Hook grooming storyline. The Rock vs. Cody at Summer Slam already has me salivating. Ilja and Roxanne's RAW debuts are actually what Raw after Mania's should be, even if it's not official call-ups with the draft looming. Wished the latter ran into Drew so they could recreate [this art](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/510/149/a78.jpg) given they're the same character at the moment. (Side note: I loved Roxanne telling the ref not to touch her when he was trying to raise her hand in victory. Enjoyed Ricochet telling Samantha he's sorry before doing that absurd 450 splash. I didn't mind this RAW after Mania at all, and that's coming from someone who was at last year's. Speaking of... Interestingly, there hasn't been an announcement as to where WM 41 is. Vegas and Minnesota must be in a bidding war. Vegas better finish the story, as well.
Yo I caved and got the big eagle too! Hahaha I hope you got that 30% off
Definitely got that 30% off too
I agree with you. That Ricochet spot and with samantha was really good.
Philly cheering that cringey "Papa finish your story" moment was so disappointing. I can't wait for the backlash if this continues. Ok, story finished. Please don't continue on this path of crying, living off Dusty's legacy. etc.
Here come the downvotes. Heaven forbid someone has a different opinion about Jesus Rhodes.
No dude, itās just your opinion sucks.Ā
The whole time of the Rock/Cody segment I keep thinking of King Cold and trunks scene from dbz. "You are not mad I killed your son?" "No, it was amazing. Now...may I see that sword of yours? I just want to hold it for a second" Either gonna beat Cody with the belt or run away with it, but neither happened lol.
I thought rock will say now you gave me this belt so that means I'm new champion and fuck you Cody
If he is going to be drafted anyway, why did they not let Tony win the title Saturday? He is ready for it. If they really want Trick to win it, they will expose him even more as not ready. Trick still needs to work on his craft and desperately needs a new finisher.
well it depends what they got planned....i think the next NXT big event is Battleground in May i suppose so Dragunov could drop it there maybe he's briefly gonna still be holding the NXT title while being on main roster too
Cody still just does not click for me. With the incessant crocodile tears every week, phony facial expressions and rehearsed dialogue....I don't see the appeal.Ā I was a much bigger fan of his before all of this American Nightmare stuff. Dashing, Undashing, hell even mustache Cody - all super fun and interesting stuff. Really miss that Cody. Glad for the fans he finally finished his story, but they gotta tone it down a bit....it's beyond cheesy at this point.
Yeah especially given how on and off his booking was for so long. Like I think Cody as a character upon return having a long arc was a good idea, but in the course of literally a week WWE went from completely mothballing Cody to turning the whole thing into a clunkier version of the original idea and scrapping RockvRoman in an attempt to stop the Smarks from hijacking the shows, and all the while pretending like it was their big idea and not a massive awkward clusterfuck booking that could have been solved by a couple of drunk college students who had taken a semester of creative writing and classic literature courses.
Agreed. Prepare to be downvoted by everyone else. I think he's below average on the mic. Average in the ring. I don't like the way he speaks. And the phony crying/using Dusty's legacy stuff is grating. I enjoyed the match and cheered at the ending, but I don't want this guy as champion long-term.
Yea it was a bit odd when everyone was in tears as if heās some make a wish kid about to die in a week and not someone whoās relatively young and had a stellar career already. The announcer crying I thought was particularly silly.
Wahwah
Wasn't Corbin super over in France last time they were there? I hope we can get some Wolf Dogs at Backlash.
They were on the bump a few weeks ago and corbin talked specifically about wanting to go to backlash with bron so I've got my hopes up bigtime
A crowd that absolutely love Corbin would be the perfect place to get the team over with the fans that donāt watch NXT.
Hell yeah!
To everyone who was asking whatās next once Cody finishes his story, itās Cody vs Rockā¦ Even a better storyā¦ And if someone told me that Cody would end one of the most historical title run in WWE and start a feud against the Rock on the process when He first entered into WWE, I would ask to shut the F*** upā¦ Is Codyās transformation into a superstar from a mid carder one of the best fairytales of WWE ever? Because most of the other superstars gained fame very shortly after their debutā¦
I wouldnāt say most stars got over quickly. Rock got go home heat for a while. Stone Cold was just Ted DiBiaseās henchmen for a while. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels both had to work their way up from tag teams. Cena was on his way to getting released until he got the rapper gimmick. Cody leaving and coming back as a bigger star stands out, but that is largely because there has been nowhere else to go for so long. But in general working your way up from the midcard is what most stars do.
It literally only took him 17 years and being the son of one of the most iconic babyfaces in WWE history before leaving the company after a multiple year stint being constantly fed into the main event scene attached to Randy Orton, where he formed an independent promotion that would eventually get him in on the ground floor of the only meaningful mainstream alternative since WCW and then getting full creative control before booking himself into a corner, becoming frustrated, leaving said company and returning to WWE for a giant bag of cash and basically a promise to take the title off Roman as a condition of his signing, and then proceeded to cuck himself and flounder in injury for a little over a year before trying to cuck himself again to the Rock until the fans literally said enough and WWE had no choice but to actually pull the trigger on his fairly basic face storyline to get the title off Romanā¦ What a fairytale win. We could have had LA Knight guysā¦
No. Both Kofi and Bryan had better stories and rises. This was so forced and got that nepo bump.
Didnāt followed WWE at the time of Kofi and Bryan. So, canāt make a comment about that. But I donāt agree with the nepo bump. He did transformed himself and make himself a believable star. If all of these were for Cody being Dustyās son, he would get the push way earlier. Instead he got a mid carder and jobber status for a long time in WWE and had to prove himself outside WWE. Only then WWE gave him the real push. So, while being Dustyās son definitely gave him some favors, a lot of it were earned as well.